This invention relates to the latching of vehicle closure members such as doors and tailgates and in particular to the latching of a pair of doors or tailgates.
It is known from to provide a motor vehicle door lock arrangement for a double rear hatch having a lower closure member in the form of a hatch door or tailgate which can be swung down and an upper closure member in the form of a hatch door or tailgate which can be folded up. Door lock mechanisms are mounted on each side edge of a body opening and closure blocks mounted on side edges of the hatch doors cooperate with the door lock mechanisms. The lock mechanisms for the lower hatch and the upper hatch are combined into a single lock unit mounted on a lock carrier at each side of the body opening.
Although this arrangement is preferable to an arrangement in which two separate lock units have to be mounted on each side of the body opening it has the disadvantage that to ensure the correct sequencing of the opening of the hatches a microswitch has to be used to prevent the lower hatch from being unlocked before the upper hatch has opened.